Royal City soldier takes recruiting to the screen

ROYAL CITY — Royal City native Pedro Popoca is helping to recruit the next generation of soldiers. Popoca, a second lieutenant in the Army National Guard now living in Seattle, appeared recently in videos for the Army’s “Decide to Lead” promotion campaign to increase officer training participation. “It was actually one of my friends that's also an officer in the program with me (that got me into it),” Popoca said. “She was pictured in another video and she was telling me that they were looking for more people to be part of that campaign video. I ended up interviewing for this campaign and they liked me, so they put me into the video.” Popoca has roles in two videos, both of which can be found on YouTube. In “So Early,” he is shown helping a cadet climb a structure in an obstacle course, then being helped up in turn. In “Together,” he is seen carrying a map and leading cadets into a forest clearing for night training...